Morphological abnormalities in anurans are known to be globally widespread. Here, we report on six individual anuran morphological abnormalities from four Paraguayan departments.
We briefly discuss potential causal agents and highlight the need for further research into this topic in Paraguay.Asociación Herpetológica Argentin

Atkinson, Karina

Davis, Harry-Pym

Pett, Brogan L.

Sarvary, Joseph

Smith, Paul

Cuadernos de Herpetología

English

El Servicio de Difusión de la Creación Intelectual

Nota
79
Author for correspondence: brogan@paralatierra.org
Records of morphological abnormalities of anuran limbs from 
Paraguay
Brogan L. Pett1, Joseph Sarvary1, Harry-Pym Davis1, Paul Smith1,2, Karina Atkinson1
1 Para La Tierra, Centro IDEAL, Pilar, Dpto. Ñeembucu, Paraguay. 
2 FAUNA Paraguay, Encarnación, Paraguay.
Cuad. herpetol. 33(2): 79-82 (2019)
Morphological abnormalities in anurans first 
appeared in scientific literature nearly 300 years 
ago (Ouellet, 2000), and are now reported across 
the world (Ankley et al., 2004; Garcia-Munoz et al., 
2010; Spolyarich et al., 2011). Morphological abnor-
malities are a natural phenomenon in amphibian 
populations, with rates above 5% considered high 
and a likely indicator of environmental degradation 
(Lanoo, 2008). Malformation of the limbs can have 
a negative impact on individual fitness as they may 
impair mobility, increase risk of predation, and de-
crease foraging efficiency (Blaustein and Johnson, 
2003). Several causal agents have been proposed, 
with four main theories: increases in chemical pollu-
tants (Peltzer et al., 2011; Hedge and Krishnamurthy, 
2014), parasitic infection (Johnson et al., 1999), 
increased UV-B radiation (Spolyarich et al., 2011), 
and predators (Johnson and Bowerman, 2010).
Reports exist in South America from Ar-
gentina (Attademo et al., 2005; Peltzer et al. 2011, 
Agostini et al., 2013), Brazil (dos Santos et al., 2017; 
Silva- Soares and Mônico, 2017, Ascoli- Morrete et 
al. 2019), Uruguay (Prigione and Langone, 1985) 
and Paraguay (Brouard and Smith, 2014), but are 
still scarce in comparison to temperate regions (see 
detailed revision in Lannoo, 2008). 
In this study, we reported morphological ab-
normalities of the limbs on six anuran species, Scinax 
fuscovarius (Lutz, 1925), Rhinella dypticha (Cope, 
1862), Rhinella major (Muller and Hellmich, 1936), 
Leptodactylus latrans (Linnaeus, 1758), Physalaemus 
santafecinus Barrio, 1965, and Elachistocleis haroi 
Pereyra et al., 2013. The examinations were based 
on external observation under a stereoscope. Indivi-
duals were collected from Paraguayan departments: 
Itapúa, Ñeembucú, Presidente Hayes and Boque-
rón. All individuals were euthanized according to 
Simmons (2002) and deposited in the Colección 
Científica de Para La Tierra (CZPLT) registered by 
the Ministerio del Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible 
(MADES). Our classification of abnormalities fo-
llowed Johnson et al. (2001) and Lannoo, (2008); 
(Table 1). 
Scinax fuscovarius (Hylidae, Scinaxinae): An 
individual (CZPLT-H 1474) was recorded on the 
18th of January 2019 at an urban site located at 7.5km 
west of Encarnación (-27°10’32.88” S; -55°33’25.92” 
W). The individual exhibited ectrodactyly of at least 
two digits and syndactyly on the remaining digits on 
its left forelimb. 
Recibida:  0 9  A b r i l  2 0 1 9
Revisada:  1 5  M a y o  2 0 1 9
Aceptada:  0 9  A g o s t o  2 0 1 9
E d i t o r  A s o c i a d o :  P.  Pe l t z e r
doi:  10.31017/CdH.2019.(2019-014)
ABSTRACT
Morphological abnormalities in anurans are known to be globally widespread. Here, we report 
on six individual anuran morphological abnormalities from four Paraguayan departments. 
We briefly discuss potential causal agents and highlight the need for further research into this 
topic in Paraguay.
Key Words: Amphibians; Malformation; Trauma.
Condition Description
Amelia Absence of one or more limbs
Brachydactyly Abnormal shortness of one or more digits
Ectrodactyly Complete absence of one or more digits
Ectromelia Complete absence of one or more bones
Hemimelia Partial or complete absence of distal portion 
of long bones
Syndactyly Partial or complete fusion of one or more 
digits
Table 1. Classification and description of morphological ab-
normalities observed in this paper, adapted from Johnson et 
al. (2001) and Lannoo (2008).
80
Pett et al.  - Morphological abnormalities of anuran limbs from Paraguay
Rhinella dypticha (Bufonidae): An individual 
(CZPLT-H 1420) of R. dypticha was recorded on 
the 21st of January 2019, at Estancia Santa Ana 
(-26°51’7.92” S; -58°2’32.28” W) in Ñeembucú de-
partment. The individual exhibited ectromelia on 
its right forelimb, with the distal portion completely 
missing and forming a smooth black stump. 
Rhinella major (Bufonidae): An individual of 
R. major (CZPLT-H 1391) was recorded on the 12th 
of January 2019, at a pond near Parador Pirahú ho-
tel (-23°39’24.12” S; -58°41’36.24”W) in Presidente 
Hayes department). The individual exhibited ectro-
dactyly and brachydactyly on its hind right foot, with 
a missing digit II and stunted and deformed digits 
III and IV (Fig. 1).  
Leptodactylus latrans (Leptodactylidae): 
An individual of L. latrans (CZPLT-H 1459) was 
recorded on the 23rd of March, at Estancia Santa 
Ana (-26°51’1.8”S; -58°2’5.64”W) from Ñeembucú 
department. The individual exhibited amelia and 
hemimelia on the right forelimb. 
Physalaemus santafecinus, (Leptodactylidae, 
Leiuperinae): An individual (CZPLT-H 1342) was 
recorded on the 5th of December 2018, at Regi-
mento de Caballería No2 Coronel Felipe Toledo 
(-26°50’42.72” S; -58°18’18.72” W) in Ñeembucú de-
partment. The individual exhibited ectrodactyly on 
its left forelimb, missing two digits (digits II and III).
Elachistocleis haroi (Microhylidae): An indi-
vidual (CZPLT-H 1371) was recorded on the 13th 
of January 2019 from a swamp near Fortin Toledo 
(-22°12’42.48” S; -60°12’6.84” W, Boquerón de-
partment). The individual exhibited an amelia of 
its left forelimb.
These are the first records of morphological ab-
normalities for R. major, E. haroi and P. santafecinus, 
and these records increase the number of morpho-
logical abnormalities from Paraguayan departments 
from one to five (Fig. 2). The only previously pu-
blished records were of Elachistocleis bicolor and 
Euphemphix nattereri in San Pedro department, 
where Brouard and Smith (2014) noted that ab-
normality rates were generally low. Several causes 
may be responsible for the abnormalities (discussed 
previously), some may be genuine deformities (Me-
teyer, 2000), however, abnormalities observed for R. 
dypticha and E. haroi appear to have been produced 
by a mechanical injury, or trauma due to predation 
event (Ballengée and Sessions, 2009; Johnson and 
Bowerman, 2010; Bionda et al. 2012). 
Figure 1. Photographs of individual anurans with morphological abnormalities, A) Physalaemus santafecinus (ectrodactyly on left 
forelimb), B) Rhinella dypticha (ectromelia on right forelimb), C) Scinax fuscovarius (ectrodactyly and syndactyly of digits on the left 
forelimb), D) Rhinella major (ectrodactyly and brachydactyly on right hindlimb, E) Leptodactylus latrans (amelia and hemimelia on 
right forelimb), F) Elachistocleis haroi (amelia of left forelimb). Photographs taken by: A, E, F (BLP, co- author), B (Lia Nydes), C (PS, 
co- author), D (JS, co- author).
81
Cuad. herpetol. 33 (2): 79-82 (2019)
Amphibians are exceptional bioindicator taxa 
(Davic and Welsh, 2004; DeGarady and Halbrook, 
2006) and Paraguay is undergoing rapid land- use 
change (Aide et al., 2012).  Future research in Pa-
raguay should examine relationships between land 
use change and levels of abnormality prevalence and 
severity. Evaluation of historical museum records 
would also prove useful in comparing abnormality 
rates over time.
 
Acknowledgements
We thank the Ministerio del Ambiente y Desarrollo 
Sostenible (MADES) for issuing relevant research 
permits. JS, PS, and KA are grateful to the PRONII 
program of CONACyT Paraguay for their support. 
The authors are grateful to CCCI for permission to 
work at Fortín Toledo, Don Barrios for authorisa-
tion to conduct research at Estancia Santa Ana, and 
Paraguayan Armed Forces for agreement to study at 
Regimento de Caballería No2 Coronel Felipe Toledo, 
in Pilar. We thank kindly, P. Peltzer and two anon-
ymous reviewers for constructive comments on an 
early version of the manuscript.
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Records of morphological abnormalities of anuran limbs from Paraguay

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